


From Darkness To Light

by loves_books



Category: A-Team - All Media Types, The A-Team (2010)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-01-29
Packaged: 2018-01-10 10:21:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1158501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loves_books/pseuds/loves_books
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a job goes wrong, BA and Face are trapped underground in a collapsed mine. Unable to free Face, BA is forced to leave his friend behind in order to go for help. Will Hannibal and Murdock get to them in time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

BA jolted awake in complete and utter darkness, and for one terrifying moment he thought he was blind. But as soon as that thought registered, he managed to blink the dust from his eyes and saw a faint light filtering through that darkness, distant and very weak. So, not blind after all.

Not deaf either, apparently, as the sound of creaking and shifting timbers reached his ringing ears. A crash, somewhere off in the distance. Deeper in the mine, perhaps, and with that thought everything suddenly came back to BA with a start.

“Face!” he shouted into the darkness, frowning hard as the echo, or lack of an echo, told him exactly how much of the previously cavernous structure had collapsed around them. “Face, you hear me, man?”

Nothing in response, not even a groan or a cry, and BA carefully flexed all his muscles to try and see if he was injured or pinned in anyway. A pounding headache and twinges of pain all over his body, loose bits of fallen debris on his legs, but nothing worse thankfully. Waving his hands cautiously in front of his face, he checked he had enough room before slowly sitting up.

“Talk to me, Face,” he called again, coughing a little to clear the dust from his lungs. His eyes were slowly adjusting to that faint light now, and he tried to peer into the deeper darkness towards where his teammate had been. “Come on, man. Answer me, damn it! Face!”

Then, just as he felt the beginnings of panic, he heard it. A tiny cough, then a gasp, followed by a weak, “Bosco?”

“Yeah, Face, it’s me.” The tight knot in his chest eased a fraction, but BA still couldn’t see the other man anywhere nearby. That made sense, BA realised, remembering that Face had been deeper into the mines than he had been. They’d both been hurrying, keen to get what they had come for and get the hell out of there. A strong box, apparently, with the evidence the team needed to put some very bad people behind bars for a long time. “You okay, Face?”

Typically, rather than answering that question, Face asked one of his own in response. “What happened, BA?” His voice was already a little stronger, though there was undeniably a rough edge of pain there, and BA carefully brushed the last of the debris from his legs as he climbed to a crouch. But his head brushed wooden beams where there should have been empty space, and he instinctively flinched back down as more dust started to fall around him.

“Not sure,” he told Face as he started to move cautiously, keeping his head low. “Explosion of some kind? Trap, maybe?” It had been sudden, whatever had happened, bringing the whole structure down around them. Sheer miracle they hadn’t been killed outright, or crushed. “I can see light,” BA called, blinking and trying desperately to make some sense of the shadows around him. His head throbbed again, and he could feel something sticky trickling down his cheek. Blood, maybe, but unimportant. Shaking his head carefully he forced himself to focus. “Don’t think the entrance is blocked all the way. We can get out, I think. I hope.”

“Then go,” Face called back to him, though his words were immediately followed by a tight gasp that had BA frowning again. “You hurt, big guy? You can move, right?”

“I can move.” He was already moving, in fact, but away from the light and towards where Face’s voice was drifting from the deeper darkness. “You’re comin’ with me,” he told his friend as he felt his way over the rubble. “Ain’t leavin’ you here, Face.”

“You might have to.” Definitely pain in Face’s voice, now, and BA let out a little growl.

“How bad you hurt, Face? Don’t lie to me and tell me you’re fine.” Something shifted in the mine, sounding almost like a small rockslide, and BA froze until everything settled once more. Even more dust in the air now, and slightly less light from behind him. Not good. “Face?”

Face’s words, when they came, made BA’s heart sink. “I can’t move, BA, I’m pinned. No, more like… Impaled, I guess.” Face’s words were quieter now, yet there was a note of honesty there than BA recognised. A sure sign of just how bad things must be, he knew, if the team’s conman wasn’t even trying to pretend he was fine.

“Impaled on what?” BA forced himself to ask the question though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer, sliding ever further into the mines. Less space here, even less head room, fallen beams and rocks leaving only a series of very narrow gaps for his big body to fit through. Face was conscious, at least, and talking, but – “Face, how bad is it?”

A groan, loud enough to reach BA as he was forced to stop when the rubble shifted beneath him again and he nearly fell. That groan was close by, though, and eventually Face answered him. “Metal spike of some kind,” came the gasp. “From the roof, maybe, or… I don’t know, man. Through my left side, low, above my hip. Not bleeding too bad right now.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” Face’s breathing was audible now, little tight gasps for air. “The rest of me is okay, though. Nothing buried or broken. But I can’t move.”

“Shit,” BA swore again, not sure just how much Face was hiding from him, and then things got worse still when he found he couldn’t get any further, heavy beams leaving a gap only a few inches high. Murdock might have been able to squeeze through without disturbing the whole thing, even Face might have had a chance but BA knew his bulky body had no hope. “I can’t get through, man,” he told Face reluctantly, debating for a brief second if he could go around somehow, or try to shift the debris blocking his path. An ominous creaking sound and more falling dust quickly put paid to any such thoughts.

As BA started to shuffle backwards, Face’s words stopped him in his tracks. “I think… I can see you, just about, I… Can’t reach…”

Without hesitation, BA dropped to his stomach and stretched his arm into the gap, ignoring the splinters prickling at his bruised skin. “Faceman…”

His grasping fingers felt nothing but rubble at first, but then, suddenly, he felt something else. Cold fingers, Face’s fingers, and he strained his shoulder nearly out of its socket to reach just another few inches. Finally, he managed to wrap his hand around his teammate’s, able to feel Face trembling.

“Bosco…” Face breathed, closing those shaking fingers weakly around BA’s. “You have to get out, buddy. Tell them where I am.”

“Not leavin’ you,” BA insisted again, wishing desperately that he could just pull Face out of there. Not an option at all, though, not with Face impaled on the wreckage, fallen beams only inches above his head. BA knew he couldn’t get his friend out by himself, and he tried to see into the darkness, tried to catch a glimpse of Face. But there was no light ahead of him at all, not even shadows in the blackness – the light drifting down from behind him was just too weak to penetrate the depths of the collapsed mine. “If I can just shift some of this – ”

Something that sounded like a small explosion and everything shifted again, dust and rocks crashing down in the distance. Face cried out in pain, his fingers tightening convulsively around BA’s. “Go, damn it,” the trapped man hissed when things settled again. “Or you’ll be trapped here too. They don’t know where we are; you have to get out. Do I need to make it an order, Corporal?”

“Face, I…” BA hesitated, torn between staying and going for help. In his heart he knew Face was right, knew he needed to go. Glancing over his shoulder, he could still see that faint light reaching down to him through the darkness. The outside world, so near yet so far – they weren’t too deep into the mines, but the rest of their team hadn’t known they were going in at all. Didn’t know they were in here, might not even have heard the explosion. 

Perhaps it had been a mistake, coming in like they had, but both he and Face had felt they’d had to take the chance when they could. They’d been watching the comings and goings at the abandoned mine while Hannibal and Murdock had been doing some recon in the nearby town, and the gang had all left suddenly, no guards, no watchdogs. For better or for worse, the two of them agreed they had to try, and there had been no reason to think things would go up in explosions the way they had. A trap. A set-up, perhaps. 

BA knew he had no choice but to go for help. But how could he possibly leave Face like this?

“Go. Please.” Face squeezed his hand once again before deliberately loosening his fingers, though BA stubbornly held on a moment longer, tightening his grip even further when his friend spoke again, whispered words that sent shivers down BA’s spine. “Tell Hannibal… Tell John that I – ”

“No way, man.” BA shook his head frantically in the darkness. “No, you tell him yourself when we get out of here, Face.”

“Tell him for me, just in case. Tell him – ”

“No, Face. No goodbyes.”

“ – Tell him I love him. Please.” Despite the pain and growing weakness, Face’s words were calm, and BA had to swallow hard against the emotions rising in his throat, threatening to choke him just when he needed to move. But Face wasn’t finished. Thoughts of his lover, of course, but of his team too. “And tell Murdock…”

“Stop it, man. Just stop.” Miraculously, Face did. Silence for a moment between them, and BA knew if he didn’t leave now he wouldn’t be able to. But he somehow couldn’t find the strength to let go of those cold fingers in his hand – so cold, too cold. Face was going into shock, he could tell, and he wondered just how much damage that spike had caused, how much blood Face had already lost. And how much worse would his condition be before BA could return with help? Summoning all the strength he had, imagining Hannibal’s voice in his head ordering him to focus, he finally said, “I’m goin’, okay? I’ll be as quick as I can, and I’ll be back for you. We all will.”

“I know you will,” Face whispered, and BA could have sworn he could hear a smile in his friend’s voice.

He couldn’t leave like that, though, not after Face’s earlier words. No goodbyes, but, just in case… “Face? He knows, y’know, Hannibal knows. And… You know he feels the same way. And me and the crazy fool too.” Not in quite the same way, of course, but he knew Face would understand. BA wasn’t good with words even at the best of times.

“Go,” Face breathed, letting out a stifled gasp of pain when BA let go of his hand and started to shuffle backwards as quickly as he dared.

“Stay awake, Face,” he told the other man as clouds of disturbed dust rose up around him again. “And don’t you dare go anywhere, okay?” He’d hoped to raise a laugh from his friend, but BA felt his heart grow heavy as the only answer was a pain-filled moan. Nothing more he could do but leave, and he turned towards that distant light and started moving as fast as he dared, scrambling over broken beams and fallen rocks, praying the route back to the entrance remained relatively clear. The sooner he got out, the sooner he could summon help and get back to his trapped friend.


	2. Chapter 2

The explosion could be heard from town, and as soon as Hannibal heard it all of his internal alarm bells went off even as the echoes slowly faded away to leave an ominous silence. To almost anyone else it might have sounded like the distant rumble of thunder, but as he watched Murdock dash out of the coffee shop and run towards where he stood waiting, he just knew it was something far more serious.

Murdock threw his two takeout coffee cups straight into the trash as he arrived at Hannibal’s side. “Boss, was that – ?”

Hannibal was already on the move, and he grabbed Murdock’s sleeve to drag him back towards the van with him. “The mines,” he hissed, stomach tight with worry. His gut told him something very bad had just happened on the outskirts of the small town. Where Face and BA were, just observing. At least, they were supposed to be just observing.

As they rounded the corner towards where their current vehicle was parked, Hannibal spotted three of the men who’d hired the team, already waiting for them and clearly agitated. 

“You heard that?” The oldest man, Robert, asked Hannibal with a deep frown on his face. “Got to be the mines. You don’t think Hoffman would blow it?”

Hoffman was the man in charge, the man they were trying to bring down. “I didn’t think he would,” Hannibal said honestly, sliding behind the wheel and starting the engine even as Murdock opened the rear door, allowing all the men to pile in with them. “But whatever happened, it can’t be good.”

“Your other two guys are still up there, right?”

“Right.” With orders not to engage unless absolutely necessary, though of course Face in particular always took orders with a large pinch of salt. But Hannibal believed deep down that neither Face nor BA would have set off that explosion, though they would almost certainly be at the very heart of whatever was going on out there. “But they wouldn’t have…” He ran out of words, biting his lip and shaking his head instead, concentrating on driving through the narrow streets of the small town.

Flooring the gas, he drove as fast as he dared, waving absently at several more men as they passed. The team had been hired by a group of former miners, who had in turn been hired earlier to restart what they freely admitted was an illegal mining operation at the abandoned mines. The men had gone along with it willingly enough at first, telling Hannibal honestly that they had been glad of the work even if it wasn’t strictly legitimate, but they’d drawn a line when they discovered their new bosses were also smuggling drugs and stolen weapons through the mines.

It wasn’t a long drive, thankfully, and Hannibal slowed the van to a crawl as they turned onto the final approach, a narrow road winding through steeply sloped cliffs. Beside him, he saw Murdock pull out his handgun and check the clip, but he kept his focus on the road ahead, not knowing what they would find.

Murdock had been silent since they’d got into the van, and Hannibal knew his pilot was probably fighting his own worry for his two best friends, as well as focussing on what they might find ahead of them. Nearly a decade together working as a team, both in the Army and in the years since they’d been forced to go on the run, had left all four of them with an almost telepathic ability to know when one of the others was in trouble.

Right now, everything in Hannibal was screaming that his two men were in a lot of trouble. More importantly than that, Face was in trouble. The man he loved was in trouble, though Hannibal tried desperately to push that particular thought back down before it could become overwhelming. They weren’t lovers, on a job, they couldn’t be. They were teammates, and that meant Face was no more important than BA. Hannibal tried hard to concentrate on that fact even as he mentally cursed yet again the strangely magnetic rocks in the area which meant radios and cellphones were all but useless out here. That had certainly made everything far more challenging than the team were used to.

The three men in the back of the van had also been silent throughout the drive, almost sensing Hannibal’s deep concern and the fear he was fighting down. Miners, of course, who knew exactly how serious any explosion underground could be. 

But it didn’t need an experienced miner to see how bad the damage was when they pulled up as close as they could to the main entrance of the mine. The strong wooden supports which had previously supported the rock face had virtually collapsed, the wide entrance now blocked almost completely by fallen rocks and rubble, and scrambling out of it all was – 

“BA!” Murdock was out of the van and running even before Hannibal had fully slammed on the brakes. Climbing down from the driver’s side, he heard rather than saw the three miners also climbing out, but he forced himself to stand still a moment and look around, pulling out his weapon, checking for an ambush of any kind. Nothing, thankfully, and he hurried quickly across to where BA stood, throwing out an arm to catch him as he swayed on his feet.

“Easy, big guy.” Hannibal steadied him as best he could, looking his man over for injuries even as the lover in him told him to forget BA and go find Face instead. “What happened?”

But BA just blinked at him, so together Hannibal and Murdock pushed their injured teammate gently down to sit on a metal storage box which rested nearby, thrown over onto its side by the force of the explosion. Hannibal frowned at the deep gash on BA’s forehead, blood streaming freely down his face and creating a ghoulish look as it mingled with the grey dust coating his dark skin.

BA seemed to snap back into life as Murdock started examining his wound. “Whole damn place just blew up, Boss,” he suddenly mumbled, flinching away when a handkerchief was pressed to the cut. “Watch it, fool!”

“Hold still, ya big baby!” Murdock steadied his friend with a firm hand as Hannibal forced himself to check briefly on Robert and the other two men. The miners were picking their way carefully through the rubble already, talking in low voices and gesturing at the supports which had fallen, leaving only a narrow entrance visible. Everything in him was screaming to go and help them, but he needed more information. Needed to know one very important thing.

“Where’s Face?” he breathed, shaking the injured man’s shoulder gently. Pain-filled brown eyes locked onto his, and Hannibal felt his heart stop with a jolt as BA shook his head slowly, before it lurched back into life when he spoke again. 

“Still in there, Hannibal. Alive but trapped – said he’s got a metal spike of some kind gone right through his side.” Hannibal’s own gut clenched hard at the picture BA was painting, but he forced himself to stay still and listen as his man continued, “Said it wasn’t bleeding badly, but you know Face, I don’t know how bad it all really is. But he was still alive when I left. I swear.”

Terror for his lover flooded through Hannibal’s mind for a brief second before he managed to force it back. He had to stay in control; he’d be of no use to his trapped man if he went into panic mode. But as he hid the terror, he found anger taking its place. “You left him in there?” he hissed, only becoming aware he was squeezing BA’s shoulder too tightly when the other man flinched again.

“Had to.” Those dark eyes were full of pain and anguish, and BA shook his head again even as he determinedly held Hannibal’s gaze. “I had to, man. I couldn’t get to him, Hannibal, there just wasn’t enough room, and it was all shiftin’ around us, rocks and beams and all sorts of shit. I could’ve brought it all down on top of him. Couldn’t pull him out, but I wanted to. Didn’t know you’d be out here, thought I’d have to go for help, thought I’d have to…”

Hannibal managed to peel his hand away from BA’s shoulder even as an unexpected voice made him start. “Whereabouts is he?” Robert asked urgently, the old miner hovering just behind Hannibal and clearly listening intently to their conversation. “Do you know where you were in the mine? Exactly where you were?”

“Yeah, I know.” BA started to describe the route he and Face had taken through the twisting and turning of the mines, but Hannibal forced himself to turn away, pulling out his handgun and letting his fingers tighten around the weapon as his eyes swept the surrounding landscape with practised ease. He tried not to listen as BA answered Robert’s questions, tried not to react as the miner sent his two friends off to fetch specialist equipment from one of the storage sheds on the far side of the valley. 

Tried to understand when the miners told him not to help, to stay back and let them work. Tried to keep watch instead, to keep guard. Tried not to argue when Murdock announced he’d drive back to town for more help and vanished with the keys to the van. 

Tried to be the man in charge, though right now his men didn’t seem to need orders from him, every one of them knowing their job. 

Tried not to think about Face. Tried not to think about his lover, impaled, trapped, bleeding in the dark. Alone.

It worked for a time, until BA’s cold hand wrapped around his wrist, tugging him gently back to reality. Blinking, he looked down at his injured man, noticing the dressing Murdock had somehow taped into place on BA’s forehead before he had taken off in the van. “Hannibal, I’m sorry – ”

“No.” He shook his head, dropping down to one knee beside the younger man, even as the miners started to widen the collapsed entrance to the mine, securing what they could and working as fast as they dared. The anger he’d felt at BA had already faded to leave behind sheer terror at the thought of what his lover must be going through at that very moment. “I’m the one who should be sorry. Not your fault,” Hannibal told BA, his whole body longing to just rip the fallen beams away with his bare hands until he found his boy, though he knew the miners were right and he had to let them work. This was a job for experienced hands, though his own itched to lift the rocks away until he found Face. 

“I shouldn’t’ve left him.” BA mumbled, blinking hard and swaying where he sat. “I knew I shouldn’t’ve left him alone like that.”

“You had to.” Hannibal waited until BA nodded reluctantly before he continued, “Look, they know exactly where he is now, they know how badly he’s hurt. They’ll find him.” Trying to convince himself as much as his injured friend. Face would be fine. Face had to be fine. Swallowing, he asked the question that had only just occurred to him – “Why were you in there at all? I thought you were just watching?”

“They all left, all of them. Seemed too good a chance not to take it, we both agreed, we both… we thought it was worth the risk.” Hannibal nodded slowly; he might have done the same thing, though with hindsight it had perhaps not been the best move. “He said… Face said…” BA growled a little, squeezing his eyes closed, clearly frustrated with himself, and it was Hannibal’s turn to frown then. “Face told me to tell you…”

“Oh god, no.” Hannibal was up and on his feet in a second, pacing a few short steps away as he swiped a hand ferociously over his face. “No, Bosco, I don’t want to hear it. He can tell me himself when they get him out.” And they would get him out. They had to.

“I know, Boss, but, y’know. Just in case.” BA’s voice was so soft, so unlike his usual brash tone, though there was also a slur there that made Hannibal concerned the head injury had left BA with a concussion.

“No. Just, no.” The three miners were almost out of sight now, vanished into the ruins which threatened to become Face’s final resting place. He took a step towards them. “I have to help, I have to get in there.” 

“Let them work.” BA was on his feet too then, wavering slightly but somehow managing to stay upright as he came to Hannibal’s side, a shaky hand on his arm. “Was so unstable in there, and so narrow. I barely got out, and there was no way I could’ve got to Face’s side without bringin’ it all down on him. Let them work. They know what they’re doin’.”

But how could Hannibal just stand there, waiting and watching? Face was somewhere in there, somewhere deep inside, impaled and bleeding. He could be already – no, Hannibal wouldn’t let himself even think that. Almost without thinking, he turned to catch BA as the big man started to fall forwards, all the while clenching his jaw so hard he thought it might snap. There had to be something he could do. 

There had to be something. But what?

“Hold on, baby,” he whispered, even as the distant sound of falling rocks made his heart sink even further and BA sagged completely in his arms, losing the battle for consciousness. “Please, Face, hang on for me. They’re coming. We’re all coming for you.”


	3. Chapter 3

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew there should be pain. There had been pain, a while back, but now there was none. Face figured he should probably be glad about that, though he knew it really should hurt quite badly, having a metal something sticking through your body, keeping him from moving even an inch.

It didn’t hurt, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel it. Every breath he took was a fight, his diaphragm struggling to move downwards, his whole body stiffening up around whatever the hell he was impaled on. After so long lying in the dark, it almost felt like it was a part of him now, though in the back of his mind Face knew it wasn’t supposed to be there. It wasn’t, right?

He felt it with every breath, every time his body betrayed him with another little tremor. It was cold down in the mine too, really cold, and it took everything he had not to just give in to that and shiver uncontrollably. That would probably hurt quite a lot, and right now it didn’t hurt. But it probably should hurt anyway. Shouldn’t it?

Cold, though, very cold. His hands and feet had already gone numb, his legs and arms not far behind. Really cold, and that made sense. Face knew he was pretty far underground, buried alive for all intents and purposes, though he could probably have moved if it wasn’t for that metal spike pinning him in place. He’d tried to pull himself off it, at first, but he’d barely moved an inch before his body told him that was really not a good idea. That had hurt, a lot. But it didn’t hurt now, in fact that numbness was starting to spread.

Not a bad thing, perhaps, the numbness. Made it a little easier to forget he was buried alive. Before he’d lost the feeling in his hands he’d tried to feel carefully around himself, testing out the boundaries of his little world. It wasn’t good. No more than a foot of space above him, rough wooden beams and rocks miraculously staying up, somehow, when they would crush him in an instant if they collapsed. More space to either side of him, but only a few inches by his head, and no space at all by his toes. Before he’d lost feeling in his feet he’d managed to shift his boots a fraction to brush instantly against something solid, unmoving. 

He’d lain very still after that.

Numbness, and cold, and that spike in his body that shouldn’t be there. And darkness – for a moment he wondered dimly if his vision had failed him too, but then he remembered. Rolling his head to the left he could still make out that faint light drifting through the unrelenting blackness of the collapsed mine. The entrance was that way. That meant the exit was that way, too. BA had gone that way earlier, going to safety, going for help.

He had no idea how long ago that had been. Could’ve been seconds, minutes, hours. Days, maybe. He was slipping, he knew. Everything was slipping away from him, and Face frowned into the darkness. He had to stay focussed, had to stay awake. BA had gone for help, there was help coming. The team would help him. Hannibal would help him, Hannibal always knew what to do. Face didn’t know what to do, not right now, but he’d known BA had to leave him. Even if letting go of his friend’s hand had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do in his life.

Dark, and numb, and cold. Very cold now, freezing in fact, and Face blinked hazily into that distant light as he gave in to the urge to shiver, fascinated by the particles of dust which sparkled as they spun slowly downwards. His left side felt particularly cold, his left hip and leg too, all around where that foreign object was sticking through his body. He thought it had stopped bleeding, hours ago now, but perhaps not. If he could still feel his hands he could have put pressure on it again. Or around it, somehow. 

He gasped a pathetic little laugh, choking slightly on the dust. Feeling that metal spike in his body with every desperate cough. At least it didn’t hurt, though he really didn’t want to bleed out while being buried alive. He didn’t want to be crushed to death either, but somehow he thought that might be a better option. Faster, certainly, and he could still hear the distant sounds of echoing explosions and collapses from deeper in the mine. Those hanging beams and rocks above his head might yet get him. 

He tried to focus on the light, faint and distant though it was. Light meant hope, he tried to remind himself – that was right, wasn’t it? BA had gone towards the light, gone to safety. Gone to Hannibal, and Hannibal would come for him. Hannibal would always come for him, Face knew that, believed it with every ounce of his strength. Hannibal loved him, and he loved Hannibal with all his heart. He loved Murdock and BA too, his team, his family of choice. They’d come. They would come for him. He just had to hold on. Just a little longer. 

Or maybe not. That distant light was flickering now, shadows dancing and blocking out any hope he might have had. Echoes, too, what could have been words, voices, maybe. Calling to him, but from far away. Too far, he realised, as that creeping numbness spread even further. He let his eyes fall shut, helpless to keep them open any longer, not seeing the point anyway if those shadows were blocking the last of the light. 

The darkness was almost comforting, strangely, once he stopped fighting it.

The voices faded and his focus narrowed until all he was aware of was that struggle to draw a breath, and that metal something keeping him in place. He longed to stop fighting, to let the darkness win, but he couldn’t leave Hannibal. Hannibal wouldn’t leave him. Hannibal loved him, and he loved Hannibal.

No choice, though, not any more. Too cold and too tired and too numb to fight. Too dark to see, the ringing in his ears too loud to hear any more. He faded out, though still he fought to draw in each breath. He couldn’t stop, couldn’t leave, couldn’t…

He couldn’t hold on any more. With a final sigh and a half-remembered prayer, and a whisper of apology to Hannibal, Face stopped trying.

* * * *

He didn’t see the miners when they finally reached him, propping up the fallen timbers and creating space where there had been none. He couldn’t feel Murdock’s hand, when his skinny friend finally managed to slide in beside him and held him tight. He wasn’t aware of the hours of work it took to widen the collapsed mines enough to let Hannibal get to him in spite of the miners trying to keep him out, BA safely in the hands of the paramedics Murdock had summoned. He knew nothing of the dozens of men working to free him, most of the men from the town in fact, whether they were miners or not.

He had no idea how close it had really been, nor just how lucky he was. An inch or two either side and that metal spike would have torn through vital organs, ripping open veins and killing him almost instantly. As it was, he nearly bled out anyway when the miners finally managed to delicately cut through the metal pinning him in place, sliding him carefully from the darkness and out into the sun. The spike was still in place as they rushed him to the hospital, Hannibal holding his hand every step of the way. 

He knew nothing of the four hours of surgery it had taken to remove the metal spike safely, repairing the tears to his small intestine and colon, stitching torn muscles as well as they could along the way. He wasn’t aware of the many blood transfusions he’d needed or the three times surgeons had to shock his heart back into action. He had no idea yet of just how long it would take him to get back on his feet, the nerve damage which would leave him with pins and needles in his left leg for months to come, though if he had known, he would also have known Hannibal wouldn’t leave his side for even a moment throughout it all.

Some of that was far in the future, though. For now, the first and only thing he was aware of was Hannibal. It was always Hannibal, and Face believed it always would be – he wouldn’t change that for the world. Hannibal was holding his hand, tightly, that wonderfully familiar scent of the finest Cuban tobacco reaching Face’s nostrils even over the equally familiar scent of antiseptic that told him he was in a hospital. Even before he managed to open his eyes, he was aware of the soft mattress he lay on and the supportive pillows beneath his head, so different from the rocks he had felt sticking into his back when he had been trapped in the mine.

The sound of quiet beeping in the room, from a monitor keeping pace with his heart perhaps, and the soft hiss of oxygen, which explained the plastic mask he suddenly became aware of, covering the lower half of his face. And light, more than anything, so much light, filtering through his still-closed lids and confirming the fact that he really was out of that mine. Free from the fallen beams and broken rocks which he’d been so sure would become his tomb.

Free from the metal spike, more than anything, though his body was still mostly numb. The good kind of numb, now, the kind that came from heavy medication rather than blood loss and freezing temperatures. Face breathed deeply, letting a tiny smile appear on his lips when he found that breathing was so much easier than it had been, and immediately felt Hannibal’s hand tighten ever so slightly around his. 

“Face? Are you awake?” Barely more than a whisper, followed by the rustle of movement and a shadow blocking the light from Face’s closed eyes. “Sweetheart, open your eyes for me. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

He wanted to laugh at that. Of course he knew he was safe; the moment he became aware of Hannibal’s hand on his and registered the fact that there was bright light instead of dusty darkness, he’d known he was safe. Opening his eyes seemed to be beyond him just yet, though, but he managed to breath, “Hannibal…”

Warm lips kissed his forehead, and he smiled again as his lover told him softly, “I’m right here. Everything is going to be fine, baby.” Another kiss to his cheek, just above the plastic of the oxygen mask, a big hand carding gently through his hair, and that gave Face the strength to force his eyelids open at last, blinking in the light.

He didn’t know yet how close it had been, nor how difficult it would be for him in the future, but the lines of worry on Hannibal’s forehead and the unshed tears in those beautiful blue-grey eyes told Face their own story. “I’m okay, John,” he murmured, frowning when the mask seemed to swallow his words.

But Hannibal heard him somehow, despite the mask. Face blinked heavily even as some of the worry and fear faded away from his lover’s eyes. He was exhausted already but determined not to sleep again, not just yet. There was something – He needed to know, had to ask, had to – 

“Everyone is fine.” Hannibal, of course, knew exactly which way his foggy thoughts had turned. “BA had a concussion and a lot of nasty bruises, but he’s back on his feet now. No one else was hurt getting you out, though it took a long time and a lot of hands. And, believe it or not, you were lying next to the strong box we needed to find, with all the evidence we could have hoped for – the job was a success, Face, a complete success. The bad guys are in prison, and Robert and the other miners are in the clear. Out of work again, sadly, but they’ll find a way to get by. And you gave us all one hell of a scare, but you’re going to be just fine now.” 

As Hannibal spoke softly, his hand never let go of Face’s, squeezing as tightly as he could while in return Face held on weakly. Hannibal’s other hand never stopped moving in Face’s hair, soothing and comforting, chasing away the last of the chill from that deep mine even as his words settled the worry Face had still felt. Relief took its place – he hadn’t ruined everything, rushing into that mine with BA the way they had, apparently walking into a trap despite their best intentions. BA was okay, had made it out safely, and the men who hired the team would be okay. And Hannibal was here, telling Face that he would be okay too.

“Sorry, boss,” he found himself mumbling, even as his eyes started to close on their own accord, but he saw Hannibal smile before they slid shut completely.

“Don’t be sorry.” Hannibal’s voice was warm, and his lips were warmer still as another kiss fell gently on Face’s forehead. “I love you, and you didn’t leave me. There’s nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart. Sleep now.”

No choice, really, with darkness falling again for Face, but he knew he wasn’t alone this time. With all the strength he had left, he whispered, “Love you too, love you so much…”

And this time as he gave himself up to the darkness, he knew Hannibal wouldn’t leave him, knew he was safe, knew he was far from that collapsed mine. And he knew the darkness would soon give way to light once more.


End file.
